Santa Cruz County releases climate strategy

SANTA CRUZ -- Santa Cruz County released a long-awaited climate action strategy last month, adding local specifics to the global problem of climate change and providing a springboard for future policy decisions.

But the 152-page document (below) also could be seen as a wrapper for a potentially game-changing idea at its core: seeing the county develop and procure its own sources of energy. Indeed, there are firm signs of movement toward the creation of a community-based energy buyer.

"We're organizing ourselves right now to raise money from the private sector and fund the feasibility study," said Gine Johnson, member of the county's Commission on the Environment.

A former executive director of Santa Cruz-based Ecology Action, an environmental nonprofit with statewide reach, Johnson also was recently hired as a part-time analyst by County Supervisor Bruce McPherson. She said a local ad hoc group is forming to seek $150,000 in donations to fund the study.

Johnson's hiring is widely seen as a sign the county is serious about developing a system known as community choice aggregation, which would allow a local joint powers authority to buy its own renewable energy and deliver it using Pacific, Gas & Electric's grid.

With 40 percent of the county's greenhouse gas emissions coming from homes, businesses and other parts of the built environment, it would allow county residents to drive up the amount of local electricity from green sources. About 17 percent of PG&E's power is renewable.

"Supervisor McPherson has been supportive of moving toward a feasibility study and having me work on it as part of my policy job," Johnson said, adding that the idea could lead to the development of local wind, solar, biomass or other green power projects.

"This is a real opportunity to keep these revenue dollars in our community, and use them for the good of our community," Johnson said.

Community choice aggregation is the top priority for addressing greenhouse gas emissions, according to the report. It also plays a key role in a city of Santa Cruz climate strategy.

Ross Clark, who chairs the county's Commission on the Environment, said the strategy works as a risk assessment, providing a framework for addressing many of the environmental decisions to be made over the next several decades.

"This document doesn't fix everything. It really highlights what our challenges for the next 50 years are, but it doesn't give us all the answers," Clark said.

The county also recently approved an effort to fund a sustainability manager, which would dedicate a staffer to climate change issues. That person could work closely with Clark, who also works for the city of Santa Cruz, and staffers at UCSC.

"I think we'll have the critical mass in our region to achieve the goals that are identified in all three of our strategies," Clark said.

The biggest source of greenhouse gasses is still from cars and other parts of the transportation sector. For years policymakers have been trying get drivers to change their behavior and use mass transit or bicycles, with decidedly mixed results.

But something else is happening that could help make those discussions moot: drivers are changing their vehicles. If consumers continue to adopt electric vehicles, community choice aggregation could begin to address that problem as well by switching cars from oil to renewable energy.

"I think they can be a substantial help," said Sharon Sarris of the Monterey Bay Electric Vehicle Alliance.

Electric vehicle owners don't have to wait for renewable energy to arrive, either. Sarris said installing home solar panels and using those to charge vehicles is not only an immediate environmental boost, but saves money over the long run.

Overall, the county already has met its state-mandated greenhouse gas reduction goals for 2020. That accomplishment, however, comes with an big asterisk.

While transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions dropped from 2005 to 2009, that largely could be due to the economic crisis and a spike in unemployment. Over that same time, emissions from residential energy use rose 9 percent.

Instead, the drop seems due to a single factor -- the closure of Davenport's Cemex cement plant.

The county's inventory shows a 1.12 million metric ton decline in CO2 emissions from 2005 to 2009. All but 59,000 metric tons can be attributed to a 91 percent drop in commercial and industrial emissions, for which the Cemex plant is the main reason.